There’s a natural optimism about the start of a new year. We have the opportunity to wipe the slate clean with a fresh approach to accomplish what we might not have been able to the year before.

We hope Texas lawmakers embrace that sentiment as they officially convene the 86th Legislative Session next week. Voters — whether they favored Republicans and Democrats — spoke loudly in November that this state is long overdue to end the partisan rancor of past sessions. They want specific new reforms this go around on substantive issues that really matter to their communities.

We share Texans' desire for a new approach — one that unifies the state rather than divides it. To that end, we’re calling for less of the combustible proposals such as bathroom bills and more of the initiatives that improve the lives of our children, like real education reform and healthcare improvements.

If the trend of past few sessions holds true, we can anticipate lawmakers filing more than 10,000 bills and resolutions. We implore our representatives to resist the urge to focus on petty fringe issues that affect a few and instead prioritize those that can have significant impact.

Topping our list are these four areas in need of transformative action this session:

1. Fix school funding and provide property tax relief

We list these together because in our view, school finance reform and local tax relief go hand-in-hand. The state’s inability to fix its broken school finance system is one of the reasons local taxes are so high. Simply put, Austin must contribute a greater share and reform the funding mechanism that strangles too many districts’ budgets.

Under the current frustrating system, a growing number of districts have had to send millions back to the state through “recapture” because their property values have increased. Many districts have had to ask voters to increase their tax rates to pay for programs that move the needle on achievement. And school taxes are the largest part of tax bills.

There’s hope in that Gov. Greg Abbott has acknowledged that the state has to contribute more, which would lessen the burden on local taxpayers. What’s more, the Texas Commission on Public School Finance has sketched out where state funds could do the most good — programs such as the Dallas ISD's full-day pre-K program and its teacher pay system that puts the best teachers where they’re needed most.

But Abbott and some Republican leaders have also vowed to curb property tax growth by capping cities, counties and school districts’ annual tax revenue growth at 2.5 percent. It would be better to fix school finance while leaving it to local voters to hold municipalities accountable.

Bottom line, we’ve been here for far too many sessions now and we hope this is the year lawmakers make systemic changes that give its 5 million public school children a better chance to succeed.

2. Reimagine the Rainy Day Fund

The state has $12 billion — the most ever — in its emergency fund known as the Rainy Day fund and probably as many ideas on how to use it. With so many budgetary needs, it’s tempting to simply move some of that largess to areas that are sorely underfunded.

We favor Comptroller Glen Hager’s smart ideas to invest part of the fund for better returns that can be used for state expenses. He’s called for setting aside a responsible amount of the fund — equal to about 8 percent of state expenditures — in the ultra-safe sort of investments the entire fund currently sits in.

The remaining amount — at present about $4.5 billion and growing — would go into an endowment Hegar calls the Texas Legacy Fund. That money would still be invested conservatively but with an aim of earning a return of 3 percent to 4 percent above inflation. (The fund’s current returns are barely above inflation.)

With so many needs, it doesn’t make sense for the state to just stockpile those billions. We get the need to bank money for emergencies, like economic downturns and natural disasters, but Hager has come up with a way to do that and make the fund work better for Texas.

3. Overhaul the Medicaid managed care system

Texas should be embarrassed by The Dallas Morning News reports that revealed that thousands of elderly and disabled Texans can’t get the medical care they need.

Taxpayers spend billions for the state to provide health care for its most vulnerable residents. Yet, the reports revealed that foster kids are unable to get doctor’s appointments, that care is often denied when it shouldn’t be, and that there is a general lack of accountability in the system.

The system shamefully allows companies to reap large profits even while some kids, the disabled and the elderly fall through the cracks.

Alongside her medically fragile 3 yr-old son D'ashon Morris, Linda Badawo of Mesquite, Texas testifies before members of the Texas House Committee on Human Services, Wednesday, June 20, 2018 after a recent Dallas Morning News story regarding Medicaid managed care and the Health and Human Services Commission.

(Tom Fox/Staff Photographer)

It’s encouraging that the state has made some improvements — hiring more regulators and nurses and improving the way it handles appeals of denied doctor-ordered treatments, for example.

But experts say the state has a long way to go. Lawmakers must enact tighter controls to investigate, track and penalize bad behavior, and it needs to do so this legislative session.

4. Provide better mental health services for kids

Make no mistake, thousands of schoolchildren suffer from anxiety, hopelessness and despair. The situation is made tougher by the fact that there’s still a stigma around mental illness.

Experts say if we don’t address it — and talk about it — kids are left to suffer in a silence that could lead to doing harm to themselves and to others.

We’re encouraged by Abbott’s focus on better mental health services in his safe schools plan issued last year. His ideas include more mental health counselors in schools to help identify troubled students sooner. Now lawmakers need to make good on the governor’s plan.

We understand lawmakers can’t do everything this session, but these four things would be game-changers to improving Texans lives for years to come.

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